Sniffing Menth

I said Menth, not Meth! I had a cold last week and over the weekend. As far as colds go it was actually pretty mild. But the worst part was that the junk got in my ears and has stayed there the entire week. Mornings, as you might imagine are the worst, though as the week has gone on it does seem to be lessening and for that I am grateful!

But last Saturday and Sunday my ears were in pain from the pressure. When I'm sick I try very hard not to take any meds because the meds themselves can sometimes just give me other pains (usually of the abdominal variety, if you catch my drift). So I didn't want to take anything like Sudafed (besides, that stuff just makes me feel weird) to drain my ears. But I also knew I needed to do something.

I hopped on Google. No surprise there. I found some home remedy type recipes. I also read in my Coconut Cures book for a remedy for ear aches/infections. In the end I combined two recipes and made a little concoction of coconut oil (melted - as an anti-bacterial), essential peppermint oil (to numb the pain a little), and some garlic oil (also anti-bacterial, I think, which was harder to extract that you might imagine - I kept getting small parts of the garlic in there). We had an unused sterile dropper so I had Mark drop the mixture in my ear. We repeated with the other ear after 20 minutes of letting the first one sit in there and do its thing.

I was hoping for a miracle cure but it didn't come. I was bummed and still in pain.

By Monday the pain was lessening, but it was like I was listening through hands cupped over my ears. Not fun. So I headed to the Chemist and asked for anything that might help that didn't have Sudafed in it. I had them stumped temporarily. Then, the nice lady suggested Menth crystals :)

I was skeptical.

How was breathing menthol diluted in steaming water going to clear my ears? I asked and she said the nose and ears are all connected. Fair enough. And for a £1.70 I didn't have much to lose.

I nearly gagged the first big breath a took. That was STRONG stuff that took my breath away. But I persisted, just not so close to the water. The longer I breathed in nice and deep, the more it got into me. Good stuff. I thought I'd also try letting it seep into my ear so turned my ear towards the steam. I was desperate, folks.

Within the hour my ear that had been clogged for 48 hours finally "popped!" Maybe that stuff actually worked! I repeated again later that night and again the next day. Each time it seemed to help. In fact, now I like the soothing, tingly, relaxing feeling it brings so much I just might start using them for stress relief even when I am not sick.

If they don't sell these Menth Crystals in the U.S. you better believe I'm taking bottles of the stuff back with us. I just hope none of you warn customs :)